by Leo deSouza
“A wise conclusion, master dwarf.” The genie spoke.
As the group looked out, they saw the Valor rune on a tile right ahead of the one where Olaf sank.
“That is it, the Valor one is always a second chance for one who goes wrong. All the rows have two right answers; this one must be Tiredness or Valor.” Thuor said, then he stepped on the Valor rune tile. The row lowered, the choice was made right, the other dwarfs advanced too.
“Now there is only a last row.” Torag said. “But still two options, glory or death.”
“Can he answer more questions for us?” Rurur asked as he pointed to the genie.
“There is no need.” Thuor broke in. “I know the answer for this last one.”
Torag came close to speak: “Wait captain, I think we could just ask the smoky one and…”
“Isn’t it obvious, Torag?” Thuor interrupted. “Now I see it clearly, it is all about the path of life, there are things that come to us without our consensus, but one always can choose to be valorous, this is what will define the way ye will end your life. If ye had no valor during it, then the final answer is death, but if in some point of your existence ye turned valorous and proved yourself, then death is defeated and one meets glory.” The captain now stepped on the last row, on the Glory rune tile, the floor lowered, the puzzle was finally over.
The dwarfs left the tiles cave, leaving towards a new cave corridor, Montaron sat on the ground leaning against the rocky wall, he breathed deeply, relieved.
“I’m all ears for the next question, master.” The genie said to Torag.
“For now I have no more questions, but what about an order?” The dwarf replied. “Just enter here.” He said reaching the bottle to the genie.
The genie crossed his arms and replied: “I don’t think I will like to stay stuck again, master, I came from the crystal that you released me from and…”
“Get in the damn bottle! Don’t ye always say I’m your master? Get in or I will never ask ye anything more!” Torag said in a harsh voice. “Ye would be tied to me forever!”
The genie said nothing more, he just faded into smoke and flowed inside the bottle again, the dwarf closed it with the stopper. “Never thought I would come to need this one.” He spoke.
Rurur was now looking back, downcast. “Poor Olaf, he made a wrong decision and paid with his life.”
But just when he finished saying it, a small shining bolt came from the open pit in the puzzle floor, it passed fast between the group, flying in the air, it was fairy Vixen.
“Oh ye!” Rurur exclaimed. “Ye came from the hole! Where is Olaf?”
The fairy did not say anything, but she pulled him by his shirt collar towards the cave ahead.
“This creature could not spell a word, but I would bet my beard that Olaf is alive somewhere down there, and she is trying to take us there!” Torag said.
Now the fairy flew against him and twirled in the air right on his face.
“Right.” Thuor spoke. “If there is a friend lost then it is up to us to find him!”
The fairy quickly flew ahead though the cave corridor, the group followed her towards the unknown.
T he Sinister’s pit.
Now the company was hurrying though the cave, fairy Vixen guided them through the corridor and then finally back to the main cave gallery, the Underground Path itself. While they advanced, Torag had something in his mind that was making him uneasy. He remembered about what the genie answered him in the first question he did back there inside the Green Grotto when they first met. Now that he saw the creature’s guesses proved right about the puzzle, he realized that maybe what he said before was true too, and that made him concerned, as the answer the genie gave him back there was about death, still Torag decided to not tell it to anyone in the group.
“Hey Torag.” Rurur called him, breaking his thoughts. “Since when were ye keeping this thing inside a bottle?”
“It is a long story.” Torag replied.
There they could see the footbridge now following in the middle of the cave gap and not on the right side as before, there were many bats hanging there.
“Look how fat these bats are… They would made good meal!” Torag spoke as he walked.
“If they are fat like that, we should wonder about what they have been eating, and not about eating them.” Rurur continued.
“What is this right ahead?” Thuor asked as he held the group back.
The row of dwarfs disbanded, they advanced now walking slowly in loose formation as they tried to see ahead. Torag fired a burning arrow with his crossbow, it lightened the way and went down into what was revealed to be a huge pit, so large that it filled all the cave’s width.
“Seems the floor ends here.” Thuor said.
“What then?” Torag asked.
Fairy Vixen agitated in the air, she flew going down inside the pit some times, always coming back to the dwarfs.
“She want us to go down, maybe Olaf is down there.” Torag replied.
“In this case, his friends will not abandon him, let’s go.” Thuor spoke.
“Look.” Rurur said as he pointed up.
As the others looked up, they saw the elevated footbridge crossing the pit, sustained by huge pillars that extended till the bottom, as it seemed. But the bridge was broken in a stretch.
“We would need to go down to continue anyway, the footbridge is broken.” Thuor spoke.
“What could have cracked such a strong ancient structure?” Rurur asked.
“Maybe it just collapsed.” Torag replied.
Montaron stepped ahead to the border of the pit. “There!” He said as he pointed, not far away was a staircase.
The pit was so deep that they could not see its bottom, if not for a big burning flame at its center, the light coming from it had a strange red tone and lightened the pit’s interior like a gigantic sconce.
“Isn’t it the pit we heard of before? The one the witch told about, it was also written inside the pioneer’s chamber.” Rurur spoke. “Yes… Wait... We read it back in the maze, that one must use the footbridge to cross the pit, and not argue about that. Now I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Well, there is no other way, and if the fairy is really trying to tell us something, then it is likely that Olaf is down there. We are not going to abandon him.” Thuor spoke.
“For sure not!” Rurur replied.
Torag walked along the border of the pit looking down, he reached the narrow staircase, its steps were short, tortuous and canted, the dwarf tried the first one with his foot. “Ye know what? I bet there is another set of stairs on the other side of the pit for us to go up again.”
Montaron was now rubbing his chin with one of his hands, the other one rested on his waist as he looked up to the broken footbridge.
“What?” Rurur asked to him.
“How did the orc army pass through here?” Montaron asked.
All the other dwarfs looked at him surprised, as if realizing how curious his question was.
“That is a good point. Well… Judging by what I can see… Either the bridge cracked just after they passed, or they went down the pit and up again.” Torag said.
“Down the pit on this assassin staircase? Even a single dwarf will find it difficult to step on it, not to say a marching army! That is impossible!” Rurur argued.
“Ye are right, there is something strange here… How the army could have passed? The staircase would be of no use for them. So they came through the bridge, but then something broke it. What could it be?” The captain asked.
“Something… Or someone…” Rurur added.
Everyone became silent as they formulated their guesses, then Rurur spoke again: “Maybe the one who did this wanted no one to cross here anymore, to block the passage, forever.”
“Look out to the section that collapsed.” Torag said. “If we look at the rest of the bridge we can guess there was a pillar right there before. It seems the pillar was broken down, so th
e stretch of bridge right above it collapsed. How strong would be the blow to ruin this pillar?”
“It could have been hit by something like a catapult, or any other siege-breaker engine.” Rurur spoke.
Torag looked down to the pit again. “I hope we find this catapult down there…”
“Anyway, it is the path we must take. Down ahead, Torag! Lead the way, and watch your steps.” Thuor spoke passing his torch to Torag.
Then the company began to go down, the stair proved even worse than they first guessed, slips, stumbles and even some short falls came, scratches and scolds; fairy Vixen came following the group. The path was carved in the crude rock and it was steep and treacherous, not much could be heard besides the steps of the dwarfs and the burning flame at the center of the pit bottom. At half the way down, the group reached a platform where they could stand spread out, not that it was that safe, but was a place to rest from the difficult staircase path. Now they could see much more, the bottom of the pit was totally visible, some structures could be seen down there, besides hardware of many types, jails, gears, wheels and large sharp metal objects that were difficult to identify, everything was rusty, the ambience was somehow creepy.
“It is getting really sinister.” Rurur spoke.
Torag nodded in agreement. “What is this place after all?”
It was then that all of them saw the strangest thing of all. Near the hole from where fire came, in the center of the pit bottom was something like many metal tables, and on them things that the dwarfs could only identify as dead bodies, there was much blood and boneless red flesh.
“What is this, captain? Ye know this path.” Torag whispered.
“When I travelled down here I passed by the footbridge, I never came down to this pit, I actually never saw it.” Thuor spoke.
They all stood looking at the scene for a moment.
“Whatever it is… These carcasses could not come here by themselves. It looks as if a big animal has killed and ripped them.” Rurur spoke quietly.
Fairy Vixen was flying around, agitated.
“Be quiet ye naughty sprite.” Torag said.
“For now and then, we will avoid talking, doing it only when it is really necessary, and quietly.” Thuor spoke, he motioned to the others and took the staircase path again.
The last half of it proved even more difficult to do, but after all they finally reached the pit bottom, and when they did, everyone felt a strange sensation, the air was stuffy. Now right in front of them were many ruined things. The hardware was pointed, rusted and had a strange shape that none of the dwarfs recognized, it was as if it was made by huge strong hands, it had a devilish appearance. Rurur stepped on something on the ground, making a cracking noise, he looked down to see there a broken bone, and it was not the only one, all the area around was full of bones and carcasses. “The faster we get out of this pit hole the better…” He whispered.
“As soon as we find Olaf…” Thuor whispered as he extinguished his torch.
Now they advanced in a row, quiet as foxes. A strange haze was around, but it was not humid, the entire ambience was hot and dry. The group walked as they avoided stepping on things, Torag looked up and saw the immense pillars that held the footbridge, the collapsed one was now near them, he saw its base and the ruins of it around, and he thought about how powerful should be an engine to crack it. Montaron left the row walking slowly, he pointed to something and the others stopped to look at it.
“What?” Whispered Rurur.
“Caged orc.” Montaron spoke.
It was really one, inside a cage the dwarfs saw a blood orc, he was looking back at them, his eyes reflecting the red light from the flame.
“Who caged him there?” Torag whispered.
The orc was strangely quiet.
“Shoot him, Torag.” Rurur spoke.
“With pleasure.” Torag replied as he grabbed his crossbow.
But when he was about to fire, they heard very heavy steps nearby, sounds like the paws of an ox hitting against the rocky floor and a quiet growl. The dwarfs gathered and hid under the shadow of a collapsed building, everyone went quiet in expectation, Vixen hid in Torag’s clothes, something that made him bothered; the orc was there looking at them, but then he turned to look at something else that was approaching. From where the dwarfs were, all they could see was a huge hand opening the cage with a strange thimble key in one of his fingers, and another hand taking the orc out of it, each hand the size of a dwarf, thick rough skin and black nails. The orc screamed trying to free himself, the huge hands left taking him away and the cries of the orc ended just a moment before the dwarfs heard a sound like bones being cracked and a gush of blood spitting against the cage bars, then the sound of heavy steps again, leaving. The dwarfs looked at each other, frightened.
“Anyone knows what just happened?” Rurur asked, wide eyed.
Thuor thought for a few moments, then spoke: “Let’s check around, look for Olaf, but don’t make any noise.”
Now they sneaked through the many ruins and hardware, trying to not being spotted, by whoever was the owner of those bizarre hands. They passed by other cages and searched, but even trying hard through all the first half of the pit, they did not come to find their friend. Torag stirred his shirt collar. “Get out.” He whispered.
Fairy Vixen came out.
“Where is Olaf, tell me now.” The dwarf continued.
But the fairy shook her head.
“Ye don’t know? Fine then, I’ll find him by myself.” He continued.
“He must be on the other side of the pit, beyond the flame.” Rurur said.
“Then we must go there to look.” Torag replied. “Wonder where the owner of those horrid hands is now.”
Again and all of sudden the heavy steps were heard, and one more time the fairy hid inside Torag’s shirt. Now the dwarfs divided in two groups, hiding in shadows beside and leaving the path free. The sound of the paws hitting the floor became louder, something like a burp sounded, and then they saw, coming from where they came before, a huge monster, at least five times bigger than a dwarf. His body was hybrid, from his waist down it was like an ox, but with six legs. Above his waist something like a human torso, and its head was covered by a strange helmet, not any known type, at its center a single eye. All his body was muscular, his skin was rough like a gross leather and had a brown tone. As he passed, a trail of blood came after him, dripping from his hands. He went ahead, not noticing the dwarfs under the shadows, when he disappeared again among the ruins, Thuor motioned to the dwarfs on the other side of the path calling them, they gathered under a half ruined roof.
“It was true! The Sinister is real!” Rurur spoke.
Blows were heard, the dwarfs moved inside the building and peeked through a wall crack. The place ahead was empty, they could see the fire burning in the center of the pit, now so close that they could also feel its heat, and beside it, the Sinister, holding the orc body with one hand on a metal plate while cutting it in pieces with a huge cleaver, blood spitted in the air.
“Any doubt he will do the same if he catches us?” Rurur asked.
“What is the nature of this creature? And how did he end up down here?” Rurur asked.
“Ye saw the scriptures in the pioneer’s chamber, made by our ancestors. They knew about the Sinister.” Thuor spoke.
“I’m sorry captain but, this does not answer all my questions.” Rurur insisted.
“About his nature, Rurur, ye must know that deep in the mountain roots dwells things ancient, they were here before the first of us arrived, and they will probably be there when this world comes to an end. So his nature is darkness, and timeless.” Thuor replied.
“Then how did he get trapped into this pit?” Rurur asked again.
“Why do ye think he is trapped?” Torag broke in.
“Oh… Ye saw the staircase, a dwarf can barely step on it, what to say about such a huge creature?” Rurur argued.
Torag now nodded. “Ye a
re right…”
“These are strange times when such aberrations come from places we don’t know. If the story the witch told is true, then even the Warlock found himself on the verge of his own doom and had to abandon facing the power of the beast we come now to meet.” Thuor spoke.
The Sinister was still out there, cutting flesh.
“Now hear my plan, to sneak against one of the sides of the pit, and pass under the shadows, to get there, if Olaf is here in this place, then he must be on the other side.” The captain said pointing to something at the other side of the pit.
As the others looked out they could see a winding staircase, their way out. Thuor once more led the way, calling the others, the four dwarfs walked towards the right side of the pit, as quietly as they could. Torag was holding his crossbow while looking watchfully around as if expecting something to come, but he himself had no trust in his weapon against the danger that was around. They reached the pit wall, and walked alongside it, soon they found an empty area, where they would be uncovered.
“Right.” Said Thuor stopping. “This is the difficult part, crossing this empty area, then we can hide again on the shadows at the other side.” He pointed to the ruined structures after the empty area ahead.
“All at the same time? Or one by one?” Rurur asked.
“One by one for sure. It will attract less attention, make less noise and after all one can die alone if spotted.” Torag said.
“I’m going first, then the next one can come right when I reach the shadows there.” Thuor spoke. He peeked around a wall corner to see the Sinister still there, now walking as he moved some nearby stuff, the hit of his hooves on the floor being heard among the ambience. The captain ran, stepping softly when the Sinister turned his back to him, the other dwarfs watched the entire scene, tensely. Thuor crossed the place and got in safety to the other side, then hid in the shadows, he motioned, calling the next one.